


The Memoirs of The Snork

by SicaTi



Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Children, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding, They need a hug, are they related? are they not? hell if i know, just in like two or three chapters though, more or less, the Hemulen that owns the orphanage is such a dick, the angst will appear later tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-24 21:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22164361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SicaTi/pseuds/SicaTi
Summary: After spending most of his days in the Orphanage, Snork's life enters someone that is about to teach him responsibility and how to care for another person. Something he never had to do before. In the return, he gets something he never had - love and a family member.
Relationships: Snorken | The Snork & Snörkfroken | The Snork Maiden
Comments: 24
Kudos: 18





	1. The Orphanage

**Author's Note:**

> We don't get enough Snork Siblings content in the fandom and since Snork is pretty much unappreciated, I needed to give him some more attention! He's such a cool character and everyone seem to dismiss him? I'm on a mission to change this!
> 
> Blah blah blah, first language isn't English, if you find any mistakes go ahead and correct me :0 I'm pretty proud of this one as I don't write a lot and I definitely want to write some more for this fic!

The night was quiet, even the wind didn't howl like it always does, giving the bare tree branches life on their own creating the shadow creatures that would always scare the kids in the Orphanage.

A lot of different kinds of children considered the spacious, old building at the end of the narrow pathway running through the forest, their home. It wasn't the best home, heaven forbid, but they haven't known any different home. After all, each one of them has been an orphan all their lives, the only company being other abandoned kids.

Well, most of them anyway. Little children of different ages hardly ever agreed on something, but there was one case that was an exception for it.

There was a Snork. Nobody knows anyone's age in the Orphanage, but the curious ones would guess he was about 10-13 years old. They couldn't be sure, though, as the Snork himself didn't know his own age, much like all children who spent most of their life in the Orphanage. Even if he knew, though, nobody would dare ask him about it as everyone rather avoided contact with him.

The Snork was quite specific. He liked having everything in perfect order and he liked to study, which was enough of a red flag for every other kid. Nobody talked to him, because he would always start speaking in a weird, very confident and not understandable manner. Nobody really bullied him, either, though, they simply let him be. There was no such thing in the Orphanage as bullying, anyway.

The Snork didn't seem to mind the lack of contact with others, though. He was always buried in his books or notebooks he snuck out of the bookshelf, not the fairy tale one that kids would sometimes take books from to read when they were bored, but the bookshelf in the hallway. The books in that one had a lot of difficult words almost none of the children understood, and the ones who did considered them very boring. The fact the Snork willingfully decided to read them in his free time was yet another red flag for the others.

The Orphanage wasn't a good place. It was led by a lady Hemulen, who just loved having everything under her control. She was incredibly strict and very rude to most of the Orphanage's inhabitants, but the children didn't know it was not the right way to behave as they never had proper homes.

Sometimes some adults would arrive. Rarely did they pick any children up and adopted them, though, as most of the adults would simply find lonely children somewhere around in the forests or try to steal something from them. 

But the older children would sometimes speak of these rare adults, the one who would come to the Orphanage one day and take one of them away for good, to a new house where they would become their new parents. Other kids considered it rumors as they had never seen such a thing occurring before.

On the quietest night of the year, the Snork opened eyes and looked at the moon illuminating the sky outside of a window on the end of the bedroom. He had a dream - he wasn't entirely sure why it woken him up, it wasn't a scary dream. He was dreaming of a little girl, much smaller than him. He didn't know that girl at all. Once he woke up, though, he completely forgot the dream.

He wanted to go back to sleep, but he then heard footsteps. The Hemulen must've gotten up for whatever reason. The Snork knew it wouldn't be the best idea to follow as it could cause him trouble later, and he didn't like trouble. Curiosity was much too strong force, though, as it pushed him out of his bed and had him sneak out of the bedroom, trying to not wake the other children up, right into the hallway where he'd seen the Hemulen in a night dress walking towards the front door. Her way was illuminated by a candle she was carrying in her left paw.

She was muttering something, but the Snork didn't dare to follow close enough to make anything out of it. He was hiding behind the staircase when he felt the cool air catch him after the Hemulen opened the door. She took a step outside and stopped so suddenly that the Snork quickly jumped farther into the shadows behind the staircase. After a moment he looked back to see that she has stepped outside far enough not to be seen, leaving the door open. The Snork considered following her for a split second before he noticed she returned back inside, carrying a basket in her right paw and muttering angrily (she liked to do that).

The Snork squinted to try to make out what was in the basket as the Hemulen put it on the ground to close the door. He jumped a bit again, noticing movement in it. Something under the sheet moved. At first he thought it could be his imagination, but no, it moved again and even the Hemulen seemed to note it. She picked it up again.

The moment the Snork has realized that she was not going upstairs but was heading down the hallway, his heart dropped. He backed away and practically hugged the wall under the staircase to hide, at the same time imagining the awful punishment he would get if he were to get caught.

The Hemulen seemed to be too angry and too focused on whatever she was mumbling to notice him in the shadows, though. As she was passing by the staircase, a tiny head popped up from under the covers. It took the Snork a moment to realize it was a child. It looked like a troll creature, too.

That was enough to peek up his curiosity. He knew the reasonable thing to do would be to run back to the bedroom and pretend none of this has ever happened, but he wanted to know about this new child so much. He wasn't even sure why. He wasn't stupid enough to actually follow the Hemulen to the Wash Room as there was no place to hide around there, so he just ran back into the bedroom and hid behind the doorstep, keeping a close watch to the hallway.

It felt like hours before the Hemulen left again. She wasn't carrying the basket anymore, though. She was leading a little child by hand. It was visible that it was struggling to walk by itself and that the Hemulen was pretty much pulling her alongside, probably too impatient to wait for it.

The child had pale fur in purplish hue, it looked afraid and it probably didn't know what was going on. The Snork kind of forgot about hiding for a second, therefore he didn't realize the Hemulen was heading to the bedroom. When he finally did, it was too late to run to his bed - in despair he ran behind the door, hoping the Hemulen wouldn't notice him on the way out.

They entered the room, swinging the door open, which hit poor Snork in the nose. It was clear the Hemulen didn't care if the children would be woken up by her presence - even if they were, they would be too afraid of a punishment to get up and see what was going on.

The Snork groaned quietly, pushing the door a bit so he had more space to move around. Then he peeked from behind the door to see the Hemulen letting the child go in the middle of the room, or rather pushing her towards it. Her words were a bit louder than her mumbling, therefore the Snork was actually able to catch them.

"Choose a free bed and go to sleep," she said in an aggressive manner, turning around. The Snork quickly hid again. Then everything went weirdly quiet.

Then the unbearable silence has been interrupted by the door cracking, slowly closing. The Snork was about to sigh with relief when something grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his hiding place so forcefully he fell on his stomach with a yelp. He looked up immediately, his terrified eyes meeting those of the Hemulen that were burning with fury.

"What are you doing here, you unbearable, ungrateful little brat?!" She yelled with a squeaky, hostile voice. "Get to bed right this instant, 21(as she addressed all children with assigned to them numbers), and I'll think of a punishment for you tomorrow! But for now you can be sure you are not getting breakfast!" With that she left, slamming the door behind her as she walked. Her steps were heard all the way upstairs.

When it went quiet again, the Snork was still staring at the ground (which he did when the Hemulen began yelling at him), waiting for another what felt like forever just to be safe nothing else would happen.

At last, when he slowly began getting up, his arm hurting as it was pulled so suddenly, he noticed some eyes were peeking up from the beds to look at him. Among these eyes were the eyes of the little child, that now seemed to… have a different fur color?

The Snork knew only one species of this looks that could change colors, and he was sure it wasn't just made up by his brain, as the child was clearly pale purple before, and now it was green. Its face was also terrified.

The Snork got up from the ground and for a second forgot what just happened, just approaching the child curiously, but then he began thinking of the awful punishment the Hemulen was about to make up for him in the morning and he imagined how much worse it would be if she found him wandering about like that, not in bed yet (although right now it was pretty much impossible as the Hemulen was already in her own bed and didn't intend on going downstairs even if there was a fire in the house). In one moment he rushed back to bed, hiding under the covers from the eyes of everyone, who hasn't decided to go back to sleep yet.

He fell right onto his hurt arm, too, which caused him to whine and forced tears out of his eyes. He changed his position and sobbed, replaying the situation with Hemulen that just happened in his head. He didn't like trouble. And now he was in big trouble.

He sat like this under the covers and would probably pass out eventually if he hasn't felt a pull on the sheets. He tried to ignore it at first, but it kept disturbing him, so, after wiping off the remains of tears from his own cheeks and nose, he threw the sheets off of him with one movement and looked for the source with kind of annoyed expression.

It was the new child. A little Snork. It stepped back a bit after seeing that the Snork reacted. It looked flustered. The Snork's expression softened a little.

"...I…" the child squeaked. "I can't… get on…" it pointed the bed right next to the Snork's. The Snork understood what it meant and decided to slide off of his bed. He then wondered what exactly he's supposed to do, so he simply attempted to push the child up as it tried to get onto the bed. The Snork decided to put the blanket on the child as well, just in case. He didn't want to get up again if it wanted any more help.

The child smiled to him, its green color slowly beginning to shift into more yellowish hue. There was no doubt, it was another Snork. The Snork never met another one of his kind, so when it reminded him what it was, he felt some warmth inside of himself. The two of them were of kin, more or less! And that's the closest thing to family he's ever had.

"You're sad" the child suddenly pointed out. The Snork looked at himself and noticed he was blue, a color he must've changed to under the sheets or before. He didn't know how to react to that, so he just softly nodded.

"A little" he said afterwards. Then he got off the bed (which he sat on before, when he pulled the blanket over the small Snork child) and headed to his own bed.

"Who are you?" He heard a quiet, squeaky voice after he sat on his own bed. 

"...Snork" he whispered. He began putting his own sheet around himself, getting ready to sleep.

"Goodnight, Snork" the voice squeaked through the darkness. 

The Snork got a bit surprised. Nobody has ever wished him goodnight before. Sure, he heard some other kids wish it to each other, but it was never addressed to him. He looked back at the tiny child that was sitting in a large bed under the covers. It was barely visible there.

"... Thanks. Goodnight, little Snork Maiden."


	2. The Sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spending a great amount of time with the new, little friend, Snork finds out it's not easy to take care of a child so much younger than him. He also has to risk his skin quite a few times for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is much longer than the previous one and it took quite a while to write! I'm happy with it, though, and I hope you're ready for some mild angst!

Life in the Orphanage had changed quite a bit, at least for the Snork. The appearance of Snorkmaiden, who was probably the youngest child in the entire Orphanage, had given Snork new responsibilities, especially since the Hemulen wouldn't give her the attention she needed. And small children need a lot of attention.

Snork couldn't say it was a good change. He was often annoyed with how much he had to help the little girl, and how he was the only person she'd ask for it. Some of these little tasks had become pretty much a routine after a while, though, and he didn't seem to mind them at all - tucking Snorkmaiden in at night, which sometimes was accompanied by reading her to bed (with which Snork risked getting caught each night, but he got used to that as well and none of the other kids seemed to mind), helping her in the Wash Room or playing with her now and then. It became annoying when he wasn't able to read his books, do his equations or just do anything in peace. 

He soon found out Snorkmaiden listened to him and tried to mimic him sometimes. At first Snork was annoyed by that too, but soon he learned it's actually useful to have such authority over someone. He could just tell Snorkmaiden off and at least half of the time she'd listen after Snork repeated himself twice or thrice.

That was quite a power. The kind of power the Hemulen had over all of the children. But everyone was simply scared of the Hemulen and her punishments. Why would Snorkmaiden listen to Snork, out of all people? He rather wasn't the most frightening of the kids… did he do something to scare the little girl?

He was worried about something like this. He tried to be rather kind to her but he couldn't help but raise his voice now and then when she was being truly unbearable. It didn't feel good and he even regretted it sometimes, but at the same time he felt like he wouldn't get a moment of peace and quiet anymore if he didn't do stuff like that.

The regret, the annoyance, the anger. He didn't feel these things before Snorkmaiden arrived. They just came with her. The negative emotions, the feelings he despised so much. That little girl brought only trouble.

One day, he got out of bed on the wrong foot. Everything was just so exhausting and all he wanted to do today was disappear. He didn't even feel like doing any equations, they felt like way too much effort at the moment. He managed to grab quite a few books and found a corner behind one of the beds in the bedroom while all the other kids had the Free Time. The children would get the Free Time only if the Hemulen was in a good mood and Snork was so grateful it was one of these days.

There was no sign of Snorkmaiden either - he began wondering what she was up to, but then he decided to throw that thought out of his head. It was his day. No little girls allowed in his book world. Snorkmaiden would be bored by these books anyway, much like the other kids.

He was at peace in his own world, he didn't know how much time had passed but it felt like a matter of seconds. Seconds, in which he went through two thick books about different, scientific matters. He read them both already, but it was fun to get back to some older literature you haven't touched in months. Or maybe years? Nobody kept track of time in the Orphanage, so it didn't matter.

The thing that snapped him out of his little world of scientific literature was a tiny paw that appeared on the spine of one of his books. He jumped a little at the sight, but he quickly realized what that was.

"There you are, Snork!" Snorkmaiden smiled, pulling the book's cover a little so she was able to look at the Snork's face, hiding something behind her in her other paw.

Snork sighed. He pulled the book back and gave Snorkmaiden an annoyed look. That wasn't enough to stop her, though.

"I didn't seen you since the morning!" The little girl continued. "I was looking for you!"

"Haven't," the Snork corrected her instinctively, "and that is because I've been rather avoiding everyone."

"Why?" Snorkmaiden climbed up on the bed next to Snork to see his book more clearly. She put the thing she was holding on the bed behind her. "Whatcha reading? Will you read it to me?"

"No," Snork answered immediately. "You wouldn't understand it. You're too little."

"And how do you know?" She asked with a bit annoyed yet cheerful tone.

"Because I know everything."

"No you don't!" Snorkmaiden giggled. "...do you?" She whispered back to him, a bit more serious.

"I do," Snork decided to play along, "and I do know you're not going to find any fun here. Go away!" He buried his nose in the book, rather to avoid eye contact with Snorkmaiden in hope she'd listen to him than to actually read it.

"Come ooooon, Snork!" He felt a pull on his arm. He snatched it away. "Come and play! I have something to show you!"

"I don't care! I want to be alone," Snork was getting really annoyed now, "why won't you play with somebody else!"

"But it isn't no fun without you!" Snorkmaiden whined. She tried to pull Snork's arm again but he pushed her away this time, which almost caused her to fall off the bed. She held onto the sheets strong enough to save herself, though. She sat on the bed above Snork with a grumpy expression.

"Is no fun," he corrected her with his nose in the book.

"See? You agreed!"

Snork sighed. Snorkmaiden lay on the bed and sat like that quietly for a while. Then she rolled over even closer to Snork, looking into his book from above.

"It doesn't even have pictures!" She commented, observing it upside down.

"I told you you wouldn't like it," Snork was trying to remain calm, which was becoming more challenging every second the little girl was hanging above him.

"Can you read out loud?" Snorkmaiden asked, not noting Snork's answer.

" _ No, _ " Snork said, harshly. Snorkmaiden groaned loudly.

"You're not any fun!" She called.

"Then go away!” Snork raised his voice, “I told you I want to be alone today, doing boring things you won't like! And it’s ‘are no fun’," he corrected her again.

"But why?!" Snorkmaiden also raised her voice impatiently.

"Because I want to!" Snork brought the book closer to his face.

"But I wanted to show you something!"

"I don't care about anything you'd want to show me!"

"But I made something for you!"

"I don't care about that either!!"

To Snork's surprise, there was no reply this time. He waited a bit to finally look up from his book, noticing that… Snorkmaiden wasn't there.

"...Snorkmaiden?"

The moment he wanted to get up to see if she just walked away, he suddenly felt something dashing at his back. He yelled, falling on the ground with a thud, right onto the corner of the book he just had in his paws. Then he heard laughter.

"That's what you get!" The cheerful tone of the little girl got to his ears from behind. Snorkmaiden was sitting on his back. The corner of the book was still digging straight into his chest.

Snork pushed himself up so suddenly that Snorkmaiden fell off of him and hit the wall with a yelp, but she began giggling afterwards. Snork has straightened up and turned around to face the little girl, picking the book up in the process.

"THAT'S ENOUGH! I am through with you! I have to run around you all the time and I never get a moment for myself and when I'm having a bad day and try to relax reading these stupid books I can't even do so without you bothering me the entire time!" He threw the book on the ground. "It's enough that I have to risk my own skin to read you to bed because you're just a little brat that can't even fall asleep by herself! It's been the most painful few years of my life and I honestly wish you have never appeared in this stupid building! Everyone would be so much better off if you were never here!"

The entire building went quiet. It was as if the wind had stopped by the window to watch. Some kids peeked into the bedroom to see what was happening.

Snorkmaiden was no longer grinning. She looked terrified, worse than she ever looked like when looking at the Hemulen herself on her bad days. Her eyes were watery, the tears just waiting on the very edges of the corners of her eyes for an opportunity to run away down the little Snork maiden's face. Snork just now noted she was hugging a sheet of paper close to her chest, as if she was afraid he would take it away from her.

Snork's expression suddenly softened seeing how the little girl was completely taken aback by his sudden confession. He felt a prick of crippling guilt filling him from the inside, twisting his every organ and breaking his every bone.

And then, wordlessly, Snorkmaiden ran out of the bedroom. She didn't even let out a sob. That was the quietest she's been since the day of her arrival.

Snork followed her with his sight, even took a step after her, but then he froze in place. She left him alone, at last. He could just sit there and read his stupid books in peace, like he wanted. It's not like she would leave him alone in any other way! That was the only possible way. She was going to forget it in like four days anyway, so who cares? He did nothing wrong. Everything was okay. 

But then why did it feel like all his insides were set on fire?

He picked the book he threw from the ground and sat down in his corner, opening it more or less where he left on. He tried to read, but he somehow wasn't able to focus on it.

It felt like seconds had passed since he opened it, but then out of the blue he heard a scream. Snorkmaiden's scream. And then an unintelligible yell.

Everybody knew that yell.

Let it be curiosity or maybe worry, but Snork suddenly forgot why he was mad at Snorkmaiden. He got up, dropping the book and running to the hallway to see what's going on.

The doors of the Orphanage were open. The Hemulen was standing in front of them, enraged, holding Snorkmaiden's arm. The little one was trying to break free of the grab, her cheeks wet from tears that were flowing down her face. Her fur was pale. Some children had hid behind the staircase, others behind furniture. None of them dared to stay in the Hemulen's sight when she was this upset, but they were still curious about what happened so they tried to watch in a safe distance, just as they always did.

"...AND WHEN I'M TRYING TO BE NICE YOU BREAK THE ONLY RULE I GIVE YOU!!" the Hemulen's voice squeaked. "HOW CAN I TRUST ANY OF YOU IF YOU KEEP DOING THINGS LIKE THAT!"

Snork was trying to figure out what she meant. There were quite a few rules the Hemulen gave the children when they had free time. There were also the golden rules nobody was to break, ever. But then, the doors were open and… oh gosh.

Snorkmaiden almost slipped trying to break free this time.

"I'm sorry, aunt Hemulen! I'm sorry!" She cried repeatedly. Her voice was shaking and it was difficult to understand anything as it would all get choked up in her terrified sobs.

"Oh, you'll be sorry!" The Hemulen dug her claws into the girl's arm to not let her get away. "You'll be sorry after the lesson I give you!" She walked towards the wardrobe pulling Snorkmaiden after her and took a broom out of it. It wasn't the cleaning broom, though. It was the Broom.

The Hemulen took it out only when she was very angry. It was old, made out of sticks bonded together. And it had a very unpleasant texture. The kids who were unfortunate enough to get in the Hemulen's way were sure to feel it on their own skin.

And now, Snorkmaiden was in her way.

"NO!"

Snork's eyes widened as he saw the Broom and for the first time in his life he didn't think about what he was doing. He didn't even notice when he appeared right between the Hemulen and the little girl as he rushed right through the grab. It took the Hemulen off guard enough for her to let Snorkmaiden go, who cried in pain and surprise (as the Hemulen had quite sharp claws), falling back on the ground. Snork stood in front of her. 

The Hemulen was taken aback by the sudden pull and lost her balance for a second. Then she looked at the Snork. He has never seen this much fury in the eyes of a living being. It was enough to kill an adult bear with one glare like this, not to mention a little kid.

Snork whined.

"I… I'm sorry, a-aunt Hemulen, but .. but I don't th-think that… I mean… Snork-Snorkmaiden is just a…"

"How  _ dare _ you."

The Hemulen's voice was surprisingly quiet, but it was so much more threatening this way. After all, nobody had ever questioned her methods before nor did any of the other children ever plan to. Everything went still. Someone dropped a toy in the other end of the hallway, which fell on the wooden floor with a loud thud.

"I wanted to punish just 22, but I see someone ELSE takes a priority!" Her voice raised back to normal (which was very loud).

Snork began stuttering. The Hemulen dismissed that, grabbing his arm and pulling him upstairs. He was too shocked to protest.

None of the children were ever allowed to go upstairs. It was that mystic part of the Orphanage that belonged to the Hemulen and to the Hemulen only. It's where she slept. It's where she ate. It's where she spent all the time she wasn't downstairs with the children, which makes most of the day. Nobody knew what it looked like nor nobody ever dared to check further than peek at it from the second or third step of the stairs. It was one of the golden rules: never go upstairs.

One of other golden rules was to never leave the building without permission.

Maybe that's why the upstairs seemed so strange and hostile. Or maybe it was Snork's situation that influenced that impression. Technically speaking, it wasn't all that different from the downstairs of the Orphanage; it had wood walls and wooden doors, a hallway, candles here and there illuminating the way, a window even, but it just felt… hostile.

The Hemulen has led him to the first door on the left from the staircase. She opened it and, without a second of hesitation, threw the kid inside. He tripped and rolled through the floor of the room.

"Maybe spending days in the time out will teach you some respect!" She yelled at him, slamming the door afterwards.

The Snork got up and looked around. It was a very small room with no windows, the only furniture being an old, wooden bucket in the corner. Snork got up and approached it, noting it was containing water. It had to be there for a long time as it seemed to have developed a tiny ecosystem inside.

The kid suddenly remembered the rumors the other kids would tell each other (as there were a lot of stories and legends in the Orphanage) about a Time Out room - a room with nothing inside where the Hemulen would lock up the most naughty kids. She'd only let them out for one meal a day and so they could go to sleep.

Snork sat under the wall and whined. And then he began sobbing, as he had nothing else left to do.

\---

Time seemed almost nonexistent to him at this point. So much was happening all the time that it sometimes felt like minutes, sometimes like days. He wasn't able to tell the time anymore as he was in a dark room with no windows to look out of. He wasn't crying anymore, no, he'd stopped a while ago. He was just laying on the ground and staring at the ceiling. He tried doing stuff, like writing equations on the walls, but he was afraid of the Hemulen's reaction to them.

And then he heard steps. They were loud yet gentle, they sounded nothing like the Hemulen's harsh and heavy walk. He sat up and began listening curiously. Then he heard a voice. A tiny, quiet, high voice. It was calling his name.

Snork stumbled to the door on all fours and pressed his ear to the wood.

"Snorkmaiden??" He let out in a surprised tone. He looked at the wooden planks the door was made out of as if he saw a ghost.

The steps got quicker and louder as they approached it from the other side.

"Snork!" It was definitely her voice. A cheerful, loud tone he was so used to. The sound of it was almost comforting.

"Snorkmaiden! What are you doing here?!" Panic was clearly audible in Snork's harsh, loud whisper.

"I came to see you!" Snorkmaiden didn't seem to worry as much.

"But-- what if aunt Hemulen catches you?!"

"Oh, she's gone!" There was a pause after that statement as the Snork didn't seem to understand what the girl just said.

"What do you mean gone?" He finally asked.

"She went out!"

Ah. That was good to hear.

"But- but what if she comes back?" Snork didn't seem even a bit calmer.

"I just wanted to show you something!" Snorkmaiden's tone was as carefree as ever. Snork groaned to himself.

"But!" Before he could think of any other counterargument, a sheet of paper slid under the door. He looked at it for a second and then picked it up.

It was a drawing. It definitely looked like something a little kid would make, but Snork was able to make out a sun, a few clouds, grass and… two people holding hands. One was light olive, the other was mauve. The olive one was significantly shorter than the other.

Snork was looking at it for a long while.

"...Do you like it?" Snorkmaiden's voice resounded through the other side of the door, snapping him out of it, but it seemed less confident than usual. "It's us!"

Snork couldn't say it was a masterpiece. He drew a bit himself sometimes and he could tell it wasn't thought out at all, but… 

"Not bad," he answered in a teasing tone. There was no sign of previous panic in it.

Snorkmaiden giggled.

"Is that what you wanted to show me before?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Yes," the girl finally answered.

Snork kept looking at the drawing.

"Can I keep it?" He asked after a moment, hoping Snorkmaiden hadn't gone away yet.

"Oh I don't know," Snorkmaiden giggled again. "Only if you teach me!"

"Teach you what?" Snork looked up at the door, confused.

"To read!" She answered immediately. "I want to read!"

"Oh" Snork chuckled. He wondered if it had something to do with what he told her before. "Okay! B-but not now, I can't really…" he suddenly remembered his own situation. "You should go downstairs. Aunt Hemulen can come any minute now."

"But do you promise?" Snorkmaiden asked hopefully.

"Maybe," he answered cheerfully.

"Come on!" She must've leaned on the door, since Snork heard a thud on it.

"Okay. I promise!" He replied.

Snorkmaiden giggled. Then the soft, quick steps began getting quieter.

Snork listened a few more seconds, but after a while when he couldn't make the girl's steps out he returned to the room's corner and kept looking at the drawing he got. And he didn't feel as alone anymore.

\---

The rumors turned out to be true. Snork didn't get any dinner for the rest of the day and was dismissed to go to bed at bedtime. The Hemulen kept shaming him which wasn't the nicest thing to hear, but he was just glad he could return to his own bed.

It was difficult for him to hide the drawing Snorkmaiden gave him, though, and he wasn't good at such things so Hemulen easily noticed it, unfortunately.

"What are you hiding behind you?" She asked in a hostile manner.

"N-nothing…!" The Snork tried to hide the sheet, folded into a perfect, small square in his palm. It wasn't any help, though, as the Hemulen forcefully tore it out of his paw and unfolded it roughly, tearing the paper a bit.

"Where did you get it from?!" She asked, looking at the drawing.

"I- I had it on me the entire t-time, aunt Hemulen!" The Snork stuttered out the reply. The Hemulen squinted at him.

"I am much too tired with deal with any more rule breaking today, young man!" She yelled, tearing the drawing apart into two pieces, then four, then eight. She threw it on the floor. "Here, take your stupid drawing!"

Snork watched it happen helplessly, whining. The moment it fell on the ground he quickly picked the pieces up. The Hemulen pushed him to move quicker, so he just wordlessly followed her to the bedroom, hugging the pieces and holding back tears.

Everyone seemed to be asleep. Seemed was the keyword, though, as just as the Hemulen left, Snorkmaiden jumped out of her bed and ran to hug the Snork. He was surprised, but he only took a step back. The girl looked at him from head to feet and then her smile faded.

"Why are you sad?" She asked quietly.

He walked over to his bed, not reacting to Snorkmaiden's question at first and put the sheet pieces on the bedside cabinet (as it is the only place where children could keep their private belongings, if they had any).

"I'm just… tired," He said, climbing up the bed. Snorkmaiden soon followed him and glanced at the drawing, giving out only a sad, quiet "oh" when she realized what that was.

"I'll make you a new one!" She whispered, her cheerful tone returning. "A  _ better _ one! And that one is going to be for free!"

He looked at her on the side and then giggled. Then the smile on his face disappeared as quickly as it appeared, as he noticed something. Snorkmaiden had quite a big scratch mark on her arm. It must’ve happened the moment he broke Snorkmaiden free from the Hemulen’s grasp earlier that day. He had nothing he could even vaguely dress it with, though, and it didn’t seem to be deep, so he decided to ignore it for the time being. Better not to bring that situation up, anyway.

"Well," he suddenly sat up, "since I'm already here, what about a bedtime story? This time  _ you  _ read it, though."

Snorkmaiden's eyes lit up. Snork opened his cupboard and took out some children's book, putting it on his lap and patting a place on the bed right next to him.

"A promise is a promise," He smiled.

Snorkmaiden laughed (to which Snork shushed her) and climbed up the bed, sitting right next to the Snork as he opened the book on the first page. He then began his teaching.

Since Snork had to spend a few more days in the Time Out room, the lessons could happen only on evenings. At least for a while. Snorkmaiden was a quick learner, though, and when she could read a few letters Snork began teaching her how to write. She'd practice on her own as well.

And soon, she'd be reading herself to sleep. Snork gave in to that habit as well at some point, at first only to make sure Snorkmaiden wouldn't go to sleep too late, but then he began enjoying it as well.

And everything was peaceful for once.


	3. The Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hemulen takes the children for a trip, revealing that the life in the Orphanage may change greatly very soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This chapter took longer to write mostly because of the end of the semester, had to make sure I graduate and all, heheh.
> 
> But it's also sepatated in two parts as it was getting a bit too long for my likings so, have fun!

They first heard the rumor in the Wash Room.

The Wash Room was a specific place - it was the best place for rumors to spread and grow as everyone would always chat there with every other person, no matter who they were. Everyone would stand in a long line and wait to be washed by the Hemulen - who did so by pouring water on each child separately with a hose.

The Hemulen would say that the children got washed in the Wash Room at least once a week to which the children agreed - although it wasn't true, but the children didn't know that. After all, nobody kept track of time in the Orphanage. The truth was, the Hemulen washed kids now and then, sometimes twice a week, sometimes once a month. It really depended on her mood and if she didn't forget to do so.

Additionally, the Hemulen didn't mind the children talking in the line. Usually she did mind in such circumstances, like the Dinner Time. And since the line was always ridiculously long, talking to each other would let the time pass quicker. The Hemulen would be overall kind of absent on these occasions, too. All of this should make it quite obvious why exactly here the rumors would spread.

Snork was never the most social person, but even he managed to spice up an argument - or a discussion, as he would call it - with some random, a bit older kid. At this point they really forgot what they were arguing about, but they did know that the other one was wrong. It would probably continue for quite a while if not for Snorkmaiden, who suddenly returned to her place in the line (as she liked to leave it to converse with others, she was short enough not to get noticed when sneaking out of the line now and then) and walked between the older kids to hear better.

“Did you know an adult is going to appear in the Orphanage soon?” She suddenly addressed Snork, which brought both kids’ attention to her.

Adults did appear in the Orphanage now and then, but they were always unannounced. They usually just passed by to leave another abandoned child in there, never to appear again, or sometimes they didn't even bother to say a word or reveal their presence to the Hemulen, leaving children in baskets, bags or boxes (much like someone did with Snorkmaiden. And Snork, for that matter). Never did the children hear of an adult announcing themself before appearing.

Old rumors that were spread by older children that weren't in the Orphanage anymore said that announced adults were the ones that would take one of the children home. Adopt them.

Not everyone believed that version, though, calling it a myth, but no matter if someone believed those or not, the news about an announced adult were quite exciting.

"How do you know, Snorkmaiden?" Snork asked, looking at her suspiciously.

"The Fillyjoink said she heard aunt Hemulen talk to herself as she was writing a letter to someone!" Snorkmaiden said, cheerfully. "She was thanking for a conf… confeenation of someone's arrival!"

"Confirmation, Snorkmaiden," Snork corrected her out of habit. "How can you be sure she's telling the truth?"

"Because everybody believes her!" Snorkmaiden announced.

"That doesn't confirm anything."

"But it's possible! Isn't it?" The girl smiled, her eyes were sparkling like two, big sapphires.

"I… I guess so...?" Snork began to wonder. It would certainly be a bit of an adventure to meet an announced adult. Not much happened in the Orphanage.

Well, there were quite a few changes in the last few months that one could call exciting, actually, but at this point most of the kids were used to it. Namely, the Snorks organized sort of a school - some younger children had heard how Snorkmaiden was talking about Snork teaching her several cool things that she enjoyed, like basics of maths or how he'd taught her how to write many months ago. They got intrigued by such an idea, as the Hemulen never really bothered to teach them. If they hadn't learnt how to write or read before appearing in the Orphanage, they never did. It was unfortunate with the amount of very young children that would be brought there.

Snorkmaiden had an idea that day - she decided to find a way to teach others. It took a few days of bothering Snork to convince him to join in on her ambitious plan, but he eventually gave in, as it could be an interesting experience to teach a bigger amount of kids (as most of them were much younger than the Snork, who was now one of the oldest kids in the Orphanage).

That plan didn't work out in the long run, though. The children simply considered Snork to be much too strict of a teacher and they nearly gave up on him, until Snorkmaiden decided to switch places with him. She was doing pretty well at teaching kids about her age and Snork would stand on guard (as most of the lessons happened in the evenings, since the Free Time was pretty rare) which he was also doing rather well. He tended to be very particular about keeping an eye on the time, too, so everything was well thought out. The Snorks got a bit more admiration from the children of the Orphanage this way, even the ones that didn't intend on taking their classes.

Thanks to Snorkmaiden's help and understandable explanations a lot of children were learning new things very quickly and thanks to Snork's guard it was all rather safe as they never got caught. At first kids thought that maybe Snork was much too strict about keeping an eye and ear out as well, but they changed their mind the moment they nearly got caught by the Hemulen one night.

It became a part of the routine, nobody thought much of it really.

And now something new would happen! If the rumors were true, anyway. Snork was skeptical about the idea, but he never commented on it.

Yet somehow he couldn't get it out of his head. He was unusually quiet when they were all waiting in the hall for Dinner Time and he didn't say a word once the Hemulen announced a special surprise for the children. 

Snorkmaiden and the other kids were incredibly surprised, though. Or even worried. The Hemulen didn't seem to be in a good mood - no, she had seemed absent-minded and stressed time for the last few days, which resulted in her being even meaner than she usually was, noticing every single small mistake anyone made. Even the ones she tended to ignore.

Even more surprising was the announcement that the surprise was a walk in the forest - they hardly ever did such a thing, usually only when the Hemulen was nearly euphoric which itself was very rare. The younger kids decided to take it as an opportunity to have fun without thinking much of it, but a few of the older kids seemed very suspicious. They only talked among others about it, though.

The Snork only registered what the Hemulen said when the children were done preparing and it was time to go. His own thoughts were racing beforehand so he wasn't able to really think about what was happening, even when Snorkmaiden was expressing her excitement by trying to talk to him about it. Noticing the lack of Snork's reaction, she decided to simply talk to other kids who were equally as excited about it.

The children didn't have any warm clothes other than what they were wearing all the time (or weren't, like the snorks or other similar trolls and small creatures that had their own fur as a coat), very often only what they were brought in which some kids grew out of by now, so the cool fall breeze caught them off guard. Most of them didn't mind, though, as they were rather amazed by the beauty of the trees, whose leaves had just barely begun to turn into golden colors. The trees collaborated with the wind to create beautiful songs everybody could hear only if they sat next to the open window, and even if they did it was never as clear as this. The birds on the blue, cloudy sky were heading all in one direction, probably south to wait out the winter snows that would soon fall down and the animals all seemed to be hurrying, collecting what was left for their winter supplies and getting ready to fall in the winter sleep.

Snork was kind of wondering how it must've been - the children of the Orphanage never fell asleep for the winter. The Hemulen thought of it as a silly tradition only wild animals were forced to do to survive. Snork didn't really like winter - it was so cold you couldn't open a window and the bed sheets were much too light to warm him up in the night. You couldn't go out either, which was a shame, and the Hemulen always seemed to be meaner in these winter months.

Fall, on the other hand… the Snork had always considered it quite a sad time. Others considered it beautiful, but what he'd seen was just everything dying or running away, or preparing to fall asleep, not ever sure if one would wake up in the spring again. It wasn't all that bad, though - it just rather filled him with melancholy as he'd be reminded that nothing lasts forever.

And then he sighed. Right, nothing lasts forever.

The whole group was being led by the Hemulen not a great distance from the Orphanage's building (you could still see its roof between the trees) to a small meadow-like terrain. Here, the Hemulen stopped and turned to face the children, who were all standing in pairs in a perfect column, holding the hand of their pair and the tail of the person in front of them with the second hand. That's how they always walked when they had outside trips.

"Alright, children!" The Hemulen squeaked with her unpleasant voice. "You may have two hours of free time around this meadow, but you may enter the forest only to the 4th meter! You shall not get lost in the forest as I will not go looking for you! And if you are late, you must be punished! I do not promise that I will not leave the late ones behind! Now, dismissed!"

The children's eyes lit up as they ran in every possible direction, laughing and screaming in joy. Snork was the only one who stood in place for a moment, unsure what to do with himself. At last he decided to simply sit under the closest tree and watch everyone else play. He wished he had brought a book with him or something.

He sat there for a short while that felt like forever. He sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he noticed a stick on the ground next to him - it was small and it seemed to be broken off of the tree behind him. He picked it up and studied it, then he broke a bit of it off, leaving a fairly straight stick. He murmured something to himself with satisfaction and began to tear the bark off of it. He did it cautiously, first taking off the biggest parts that fell off almost by themselves, then he tried to scratch off whatever was left, every piece of it. There was almost no sign that this stick had ever had bark in the first place when he was done.

But Snork wasn't satisfied with it yet. He kneeled down in front of the tree he was leaning on and touched its surface with a free hand, studying its texture. An oak. Should do it.

Then he began to rub the stick on the oak bark, attempting to smoothen it up. He did so for a while, getting the edges to at least not be so sharp and managing to make the stick somehow smooth (as smooth as you can get using a tree as a belt sander) and looked at it with sheer satisfaction. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but it looked pretty good for something made without even getting up from one place.

But that wasn't it, Snork then got up and began looking around the trees. He searched and searched until he picked up a new stick, about the same thickness as the first one, just a bit longer. He used his teeth to make it almost exactly the same length, ripping some bark by accident in the meantime. Then he went back to the oak tree and did the exact same he did with the previous stick. And then he repeated it again. And again.

Snorkmaiden approached the Snork a while later - she'd been looking for him but she didn't think he'd be in the meetup spot, peeling sticks. She tried to get his attention by calling his name, but he seemed so invested in what he was doing that he didn't seem to hear her. That or he ignored her. She approached him even closer to stand in front of him.

"WAIT-" Snork suddenly yelled, holding his paw out, which caused Snorkmaiden to jump back in surprise. Only then she looked under her feet and noticed a small pile of peeled sticks that she almost stepped on. Snork quickly collected them and held them close to his chest, looking up at Snorkmaiden with an annoyed and kind of hurt look.

"Come with me, I kind of need your help!" Snorkmaiden exclaimed, deciding to use the attention she finally got from him.

"In case you haven't noticed," Snork placed the sticks just next to him, still keeping an eye contact with the girl, "I'm a little busy right now."

“Busy breaking sticks?” Snorkmaiden asked, sarcastically. “Come on! I promise it’s much more fun than your sticks!”   
“I’m not-” Snork sighed. “You won’t leave me alone until I come, will you?”   
“Nope!” Snorkmaiden smiled innocently.

Snork groaned. Then he picked up all his sticks and got up. Snorkmaiden giggled and ran in some direction. Snork, trying to catch up, also began to run, and soon they got across the meadow to the other side, a bit into the forest. the leaves were crunching under their paws, even if there weren't many of them just yet. Snork wasn't sure if that wouldn't be too far away, based on what Hemulen said, but he didn't get to say it as Snorkmaiden suddenly stopped. 

"Here! Look!" She pointed at a tree that was almost entirely leaning to the side, only climbing up at its top.

"Wow. You interrupted my stick breaking to show me more sticks," Snork said sarcastically, crossing his arms. Snorkmaiden blew a raspberry at him.

"I wanna climb it!" She said afterwards. "But the trunk is slippery!"

"And what am I supposed to do about it?" Snork didn't sound interested at all.

"Can you give me a lift to that branch?" The girl pointed to the lowest branch, which was growing horizontally to the ground. It seemed extremely strong and was pretty long.

Snorkmaiden wasn't as small as she used to be - no, she was growing pretty quickly in fact - but she was still shorter than the Snork by a head. She could definitely reach the branch, but Snork guessed she didn't have enough strength in her arms to lift herself onto it.

Snork rolled his eyes and, putting his sticks on the ground, approached the branch, crouching and lacing his paws together so Snorkmaiden could put her leg on them. As she did he got up, giving her an opportunity to hold and sit on the branch with a grunt. 

"Thanks!" She said, not looking back as she began figuring out how to get on the higher branches. As she stood up, Snork jerked. He ran right under her and kept standing there and following her on the ground, in case she'd slip and fall.

"It… it seems kind of dangerous," he finally said as Snorkmaiden grabbed onto another branch and was making her way up there.

"I'm careful!" She said back, sitting on another branch. She turned to the direction the two of them came from and gasped. "What a beautiful view!"

"That's great and all, but I think you should get back here!" Snork yelled as he was on the edge of panic.

"Come up here!"

"...what??"

"It's amazing, you should see it, too!" Snorkmaiden yelled, not looking at Snork. "You can see the entire meadow!"

"I'm not going to- what if the tree shakes too much and we  _ both  _ fall?" He cried.

"Come oooon! You won't regret it!"

"I highly doubt it," the Snork mumbled to himself, but after a few seconds of internal fight and hesitation he went back to the long branch and jumped up, hanging from it and slowly getting on. The branch shook violently and Snork hugged it with all his might, but nothing else happened. It was very solid and it stopped shaking after a moment.

The Snork giggled nervously to himself and began to slide up the branch, very slowly and carefully. He heard laughter above him and sighed.

"Hurry up!" Snorkmaiden said through her laughs. "You look like a snake!"

"I can manage without commentary, thank you very much," Snork exclaimed, raising his head a bit. Then he noticed he got to the trunk, so he leaned on it, attempting to carefully sit up. Then he hugged the trunk and began getting up to his feet, to at last grab a higher branch with one of his paws and trying to pull himself up, using the trunk as a backup. He was shaking and his paws were sweaty. He closed his eyes and pushed himself up with his leg, ending up on the branch next to Snorkmaiden. He jumped when he felt something touch his arm, but when he opened his eyes he only saw the little girl who was trying to stop her laughter with her paw, holding the other one on his arm. She then pointed to the meadow's direction.

Barely anything was visible through the other trees, but Snork could definitely see the farther half of the meadow. He could see the little, blurry, colorful dots run around, he assumed they were the other kids playing. He even saw a bigger, purple dot on the opposite side, sitting under a tree. It must've been the Hemulen.

It was breathtaking. Snork had never seen anything from this perspective, as if he was a small, forest creature or even a bird observing everyone else from up above without anybody ever knowing he was there. It felt really nice. He felt nice. He felt…

Free.

In one moment Snork turned around and, a bit quicker than before, but still cautiously, began climbing up higher. Snorkmaiden gave him a confused look and then giggled. He didn't look down at her, though.

"I take it you like the view?" She asked loudly, as Snork was already a few branches above. She also got up and decided to climb up a bit higher.

Snork didn't respond, he was too busy finding the perfect spots to put his paws on to climb safely. He didn't have to answer Snorkmaiden's question - his eyes were sparkling with joy, even if his overall expression didn't show it clearly.

He got almost to the very top of the tree, as high as he was sure the branches could support him. Snorkmaiden didn't dare go so high - she stopped a few branches under him, but she was well above the middle.

Snork just sat there, watching the kids, hidden between the golden leaves of the tree. He would be hard to spot, as his fur took a similar color itself. Snorkmaiden was more focused on how much fun her friend was having rather than the view as it was rare to see such a pure smile on Snork's face. It almost felt like time had stopped.

And then a call snapped them out of it.

"Two minutes until the group up!" The Hemulen's high and distant voice almost caused both Snorks to fall down. Both of them managed to grab onto something before it could happen, though, although they weren't much calmer - they began to try to get off the tree as fast as they could.

Snorkmaiden almost fell down a few times more in her hurry, but thankfully she had a good reflex. Snork was still trying to be cautious though - therefore he was taking his sweet time. 

"Hurry up, Snork!" Snorkmaiden called, anxiously looking over her shoulder.

“I'm trying, I'm trying! Oh-!" A bit of bark just broke off from under Snork's foot, causing him to lose balance. He managed to hold on, though. "Just go already! I'll- I'll be there in a minute!"

"We don't have a minute!" Snorkmaiden cried. Then she looked back again, but instead of going she approached the tree closer. "Come on!"

"I'm going- whoa!"

In a hurry, Snork grabbed the wrong branch, which broke off and caused him to fall down with a loud grunt followed by a groan. Snorkmaiden squeaked and ran to check on him.

"Are you okay??" She asked.

"Yeah, yea- I'm- I'm fine! Ow!" Snork tried to pick himself up. Snorkmaiden grabbed his arm and pulled him up, helping him stand. He had thankfully been just a few branches above the ground, but he fell right on his tail and he could feel the pain greater than the rest emitting from it, spreading to his whole body. "Let's- let's go!"

Snorkmaiden nodded and ran ahead. Snork got to pick his sticks up before he caught up to her, he almost forgot about those.

Now and then he would bump his tail into some rocks or branches along the way which sent another strong blow of pain through it. He had to shut his eyes to stop the tears rushing to his eyes. But it was fine. It was fine.

He was definitely getting a giant bruise, though.

The Hemulen was counting down. They could hear it clearly, she was at 20, then 10, then 5…

They were out of their breath when they joined the group, Snorkmaiden even tripped and landed on the ground right in front of the Hemulen. She looked at the two of them with angered look, but it was her neutral look at this point.

"Seven seconds late!" She exclaimed, straightening up. "21, you're sweeping all the floors tonight! And you, 22, since you apparently have no respect to your aunt as you're laying in front of me, are washing the dishes after dinner! Now join the row, both of you!"

Both listened. All children were now in a perfect row in front of the Hemulen. She studied them, as if she were counting them, then hummed.

"Now, listen, all of you! I hope you all had fun here today," her voice was cold, "but now I expect your best from now on for the next month or so! We have a very important guest coming soon and she shall return regularly, maybe she will even take one of your brats for good."

Snork's ears perked up.

The Adult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to have like 2k words when I was begining to write it and I have no idea what happened in between then and now
> 
> Next part is supposed to be pretty short but I can't promise anything as THIS ONE WAS ALSO SUPPOSED TO BE SHORT so, uh, wish me luck


	4. The Adult

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The arrival of the Adult impacts the life of all the children and gives the Snork even more things to worry about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAD to separate this chapter AGAIN due to its length and diversity in the plotpoints;; But this one is pretty calm! A filler, if you will. Just to rest before the story continues!

Everyone was anxious.

Whether it was excitement, worry, or fear, the idea of a new adult person appearing to visit them was unsettling to every single soul in the Orphanage.

Were they going to like them? Would they return? Would they adopt anyone? How does one adopt anyone, does one just walk in and pick a child like candy at a store? What if they take someone away? What if they don't adopt anyone?

All these questions and more could be heard among children for weeks now. It felt as if it had been years since the Hemulen had told them about the Adult, though. For the first time in the history of the Orphanage, everyone was counting down the days. All children just wanted the day of the Adult's arrival to come already, some out of excitement, others just wanted it to be done.

The additional anxiety wasn't doing Snork any good in his condition. A few days after the trip his tail's pain not only intensified but also caused it to get swollen. The tiniest attempt to move the tail caused Snork great pain, not to mention laying it on the ground or dragging it around (especially when it bumped into things). He wasn't able to even function properly due to the pain.

Snorkmaiden eventually convinced him to get the Hemulen. She wasn't very happy about having her own free time interrupted and she definitely wasn't glad to learn about Snork's injury. She began calling him names and mumbling curses about how "insufferable these bastards are" or how "he couldn't find a better time to get himself hurt like that" but she did lead him to Wash Room where she treated his injury. She mentioned something about a broken bone and put a cast on his tail. Then she took some old sheet and made a quick sling for it, telling him to hang it on his shoulder. He did as he was told.

"Be glad she's coming soon or I'd have you sweep the floors with your tail for the whole of next week for injuring yourself like that!" She yelled as she was packing the first aid kit. "Now be gone with you!"

It still hurt a lot, but it was manageable. He just couldn't balance on anything, run or use his tail in any way. Or even touch it.

He hoped broken bones heal quickly.

Additionally, he felt weirdly worried about the Adult. He wasn't even sure why exactly, but he was almost scared about it. 'I mean, what if it'll just be another aunt Hemulen?' he thought, trying to explain the feeling to himself.

But it wasn't that. It definitely wasn't just about the Adult. It was as if…

The day before the Adult's arrival everyone was surprisingly quiet. None of the children dared to talk to anyone nor did they dare to make a louder sound, lost in their own thoughts and anxieties.

It was as if that one day was thrice as long as the last three weeks. Snork personally felt the next day would be even longer.

Thus, the day had come. It wasn't as quiet as the day before - quite on the contrary - everyone was chatting with excitement and impatience. Some were peeking curiously at the hallway, others hid in the safety of their bed sheets. Second turned to minutes. Minutes turned to hours.

Snork was walking back and forth next to his bed. His anxieties had bested the pain he still felt in his tail a long time ago. Snorkmaiden was chatting with other younger kids, who were all pretty excited to meet a new person. They were guessing what kind of folk it would be. After all, they knew nothing about that person, aside from the fact it was an adult.

After a while Snork noted that the ruckus made it impossible to hear what was going on in the hallway, so he decided to peek out of the room to see if anything happened. Everything seemed the same, there was no sign of the Hemulen either. He leaned on the wall and crossed his arms impatiently. Then he looked again.Then again. And again.

He eventually sat down, peeking out every several seconds that felt like forever. His logical thinking was telling him that it would only cause the wait to become longer, but he didn't have anything to do anyway, did he?

He sighed after another peep that didn't bring anything new to his life and began to pick on the tuft of his tail. It was interesting to him how sometimes if he pulled on the right hair, he'd feel a sharp pinch in another part of his body, like his arm or back. He played with his fur until two, little feet appeared in the corner of his vision.

"What's up?" He asked idly, not looking up.

"Are you worried?" A high, kind of concerned voice asked. 

That tone caught Snork off guard for a second as he looked up at Snorkmaiden. He was right to his surprise - she didn't seem as excited as before. She had her own tail in her paws, clutching it uncertainly. Her hue was even more purplish. She looked… upset. Afraid, even.

"Why do you ask?" He said after a second or two.

"You seem worried," she answered.

"I'm not."

"Then why are you here by the door?"

"I'm just waiting. Just like everyone, really." Snork looked at the other children in the room. "Everyone has their own way of doing so, you know."

Snorkmaiden hummed and looked at the floor.

"...are  _ you _ worried?" Snork asked suddenly.

"No!" She exclaimed, letting go of her tail, but the certainty vanished from her face just about as quick as it appeared. "...maybe…"

"Why?" Snork shifted so he could lean on his knee. He hit his tail against the wall and jumped at the sudden blow of pain, but didn't focus on it for a long time. Snorkmaiden noted that as her ears perked up.

"...Sorry," she mumbled out.

"What for?" Snork asked, confused.

"If…" Snorkmaiden once more looked away. "...if I didn't ask you to climb that tree, you wouldn't hurt your tail!" She cried out in one breath.

Snork looked at her for a second, analyzing what she'd said. Then he chuckled. Snorkmaiden looked at him questionably.

"It was worth it," he said afterwards. "And it's 'wouldn't have'."

She looked down and crossed her arms. Snork patted on the floor next to him, to which she looked up and then sat in the spot he pointed out.

"Why are you worried?" Snork asked.

Snorkmaiden began to play with her tail again, but she stopped after a moment and threw it away, sweeping it behind her.

"Because of the Adult!" She said, looking up at Snork.

"Weren't you excited about them just a second ago?" Snork could never understand the mood swings Snorkmaiden had sometimes. Girls.

"Well… but the Fillyjoink said that all adults are like aunt Hemulen…!" She nearly whispered the second part of the sentence, probably in worry about the Hemulen overhearing. "And I don't want another aunt Hemulen! One aunt Hemulen is enough!"

Snork's eyes widened for a split second, realizing the little girl had the same worries as he had. He looked at the ground and kept quiet for a minute. Then he peeked at the others in the room, eyeing the Fillyjoink in question. Of  _ course _ it was her who made Snorkmaiden anxious, her constant, unreasonable anxiety was simply contagious at times. Snork shook his head and sighed before looking back at Snorkmaiden.

"Not every adult must act like aunt Hemulen," he said, saying his words carefully, as if he was trying to convince himself as well. "And I don't think a person like our lovely aunt would be willing to spend time with children, let alone adopt one."

"How can you know that?" Snorkmaiden seemed hesitant.

"Well, I'll soon be an adult," Snork said. "You will become one too, eventually."

That was a scary thought. Snork knew that he would become an adult quite soon compared to most of the kids in the Orphanage based on the time he had spent there. The Hemulen would let kids who reached adulthood go and tell them to never return. There was no place for adults in the Orphanage. A lot of children who were there when he appeared for the first time were already gone. They all left without saying goodbye.

He would have to leave at some point too, probably sooner than he would like to. And that was frightening.

"...you won't be like aunt Hemulen, will you?" Snorkmaiden asked hesitantly.

"Of course not!" Snork answered immediately. "I doubt I'll change at all."

"...Promise?"

"Promise."

Snorkmaiden seemed to think about something. Then she looked at the room and smiled as the purple hue began to disappear from her fur, becoming yellowish. She looked at Snork before she got up.

"Thanks," she said before running back to a group of children chatting cheerfully in the corner of the bedroom.

Snork looked after her. He returned the smile, but the moment she got to the other side of the room he looked down. 

He was kind of worried about the future. He'd never talked about it to anyone, though. He didn't think the others would understand his anxieties as most of the kids were rather living in the moment and didn't think of such things.

At least he could be sure he wouldn't get adopted.

A sudden creak snapped him out of his funk. He looked into the hallway where the source of the sound was and quickly identified it.

The Hemulen opened the door. She was smiling (something Snork couldn't recall her doing ever before) and talking to something outside.

Or… someone.

Snork struggled to get to his feet and leaned on the wall, grabbing the threshold so firmly it was probably close to breaking off (it was made out of old wood). He squinted.

And then he saw a silhouette coming in.

"The Adult!" He squeaked out, straightening up and backing away from the door, returning to the safety of his corner of the room.

A great amount of the children must've heard him call out as the ruckus stopped and the short moment of complete silence that had occurred was followed by anxious whispers as the children were attempting to… do something. Group up? Hide? Who knows. They knew they had to do  _ something. _

But once the Hemulen walked in everyone froze in the spots they ended up with.

"Group up, children!" She ordered, but it was somehow… calmer than usual? They didn't dare to not listen and after a second of confusion everyone stood in a straight line next to each other. "As I've announced, we have a guest visiting today! She is going to spend some time with you all so please be kind to her!"

Before anyone got to question the weirdly peaceful way the Hemulen was speaking,a beautiful lady entered the room in a fly, long dress and with a wreath made out of fall leaves and grass on her head. She smiled at the children softly, sweeping her tail to lay it next to her.

"Say hi to Ms. Dieva," said the Hemulen.

All the kids simultaneously said 'hi' which created a pretty weird yet harmonic sound.

"Hello," replied Ms. Dieva warmly. "I hope you don't get tired of me too quickly," she chuckled.

Her quiet, soft voice was somehow comforting to hear. It was high yet so much different from the Hemulen's screeching tone, which she had even if she was trying to speak calmly. Ms. Dieva's voice was more like a warm, spring breeze blowing through the Orphanage's window on a late winter day. Her little smile felt so much like a quiet song sang by the forest that the fear of it disappearing was equally as great. Except it wouldn't disappear, she kept smiling and chuckling at the tiniest joke told by any of the children. She played with them and comforted the upset ones, helped the ones in need and found more and more fun games for everybody to play together.

Sometimes when she went away some were afraid about her not returning ever again, getting mad at something any of them did or simply getting bored with them. Despite that, she always returned when she said she would - sometimes she left them for four days, sometimes for two or sometimes she returned the next day. And when she was there all those worries didn't seem as important.

One day, Ms. Dieva brought something new - a long, thick stick, with carved out insides and several holes in different places. She called it a flute and she said she made it herself. Then she started blowing into it and the Flute began to sing beautiful, melancholic songs. Nobody even dared to interrupt Ms. Dieva and her wonderful Flute creating such magical sounds. When she was done and was met with the children clapping, she announced she could teach anybody a few sounds on it, so the rest of the day was filled with not so nice whistling sounds of other kids trying to play the Flute. Ms. Dieva would say she's proud of them anyway which made all of those who tried very happy and proud of themselves too.

It was a weird, suspicious detail, but even the Hemulen seemed nicer around Ms. Dieva. She didn't yell and used phrases and words she never did before, like 'please' and 'thank you'. Some kids noticed it and they began making theories, like the one about the Hemulen having a crush on Ms. Dieva, which wasn't as supported as the theory about Ms. Dieva having an aura of kindness around her, as the Hemulen went back to her old self right after she left each time. Snork didn't like either of these theories. He speculated that the Hemulen simply didn't want to seem rude to Ms. Dieva. As to why he had yet to figure out.

The trips outside became more consistent, too. Ms. Dieva sometimes didn't even take the Hemulen with them (or the Hemulen simply didn't want to go), so they had all the freedom they could have wished for. Of course, Ms. Dieva would give them orders now and then, but she didn't raise her voice a lot and tried to keep a friendly face through it. Besides, what adult didn't give orders? It was just their thing.

Kids would sometimes play games Ms. Dieva taught them together and other times they would all just do their thing, having fun on their own. Despite that, the children would still run up to Ms. Dieva wanting to show her something, ask for help or even just play together. 

Not all of them did that, though. Snork, for instance, liked to do stuff by himself in the outdoor time, sitting under his favourite tree and experimenting with stuff he found. He didn't dare to climb any more trees with his tail still healing. His balance was greatly afflicted and he was scared of falling again. He noted his tail hurt less, but it still bothered him.

In the past few days, he'd managed to build quite a few things - mostly basic toys or sculptures out of sticks and grass. He even made a tiny broom at some point. He never used the sticks he had peeled on the day when he and Snorkmaiden climbed a tree - he had decided to leave them for a special occasion. They were resting in his cupboard. He was honestly kind of scared to do anything with them. Despite everyone's impression, he wasn't satisfied with anything he had made so far. This had a wrong angle, that didn't have the right shape, et cetera. He wanted his work to be perfect but he wasn't able to do such a thing without any actually sharp tools, despite his greatest attempts of using rocks or other branches. He even began creating 'blueprints' on construction paper back in the Orphanage, then trying to recreate them. Blueprints were pretty good, but again, impossible to do with his resources.

He never gave up, though. Each time they went outdoors, he had a new idea in his head, a new method of finishing up details, each of them getting closer and closer to perfection. It still wasn't what he wanted, but at least he knew he was slowly getting there. He usually got so invested in his ideas, so focused on testing his methods, that he didn't pay attention to anything around him. Usually it was Snorkmaiden who had to snap him out of it when they had to go back inside or for other reasons, like simple group-ups.

As usual, he didn't hear Snorkmaiden calling his name as he was in the process of carving a piece of wood by hitting a blunt rock on a sharp rock, holding the wood with his feet. She had to shake his shoulder to get his attention, which caused him to jump.

"Don't do that!" He cried, looking at the girl and noticing that she had something on her head. It looked like a bunch of grass and leaves.

"Check this out!" Snorkmaiden ignored Snork's cry, pointing at the wreath-like thing gracing her fringe. Orange and golden hues fit her now yellow fur. "Ms. Dieva taught me how to make wreaths!"

"It looks…" Snork squinted at her with a confused expression, "...exceptional."

Snorkmaiden huffed.

"It may not be the prettiest but I made it myself!" She crossed her arms.

"I don't doubt it," Snork said cynically. Snorkmaiden tsked.

She opened her mouth to say something, but nobody ever found out what that was as she was

interrupted by a soft giggle behind her.

"You'll learn how to make prettier ones with practice," Ms. Dieva said, approaching the two of them and crouching next to them. "Just wait until spring."

"And then we'll be able to make flower ones!" Snorkmaiden said with excitement.

"Exactly," Ms. Dieva tilted her head, smiling warmly. 

Snork hummed.

"You two seem to get along," the adult continued, a bit ironically. "Are you siblings?"

The two of them looked at each other in silence with visible confusion.

"We're, uh," Snorkmaiden began.

"I don't think we're related," Snork finished.

"Are you sure?" Ms. Dieva raised an eyebrow, still smiling. "You surely act like siblings."

"What do siblings act like?" Snorkmaiden asked.

"Well, a sibling is someone you are raised with and who you despise most of the time." The adult paused, looking into the sky for a moment. 

The snorks looked at each other again.  _ Did _ they seem to despise each other?

"But at the end of the day," Ms. Dieva finally continued, "you truly care about one another and you love them, even if you would usually deny it."

A moment of silence interrupted the conversation again.

"I don't think we're siblings," Snork suddenly began slowly, "because siblings are supposed to have the same parents."

"But…" Snorkmaiden turned to him. "But we don't have parents."

"Who knows," Ms. Dieva smiled sadly, "maybe you had the same parents before you ended up here. Besides, it's not parents that make siblings. The bond does."

Once more, nobody said a word. Snorkmaiden's eyes lit up, though.

"We… we could be siblings!" She said to Snork suddenly, pulling his arm. "I could be your sister! You could be my brother!"

Snork had a rather crestfallen expression. He'd never thought about that possibility before.

"...yeah."

"And you shouldn't separate siblings," Ms. Dieva said quietly. She got up and took her flute out of a leathery bag she borrowed from the Hemulen (It was an old but solid bag the Hemulen used when she was going out for a long while) and began to blow into it, creating the beautiful music, carried by the echo into the depths of the forest. Some woods creatures, including the tree spirits, came out of their hiding spots to listen. Then she walked away.

That song got stuck in most of the children's heads when they were walking back home.

Snork couldn't sleep that night. The idea of the school was forgotten after Ms. Dieva arrived as children had finally found something to do almost every day and each night they were so tired they would fall asleep immediately,. Nobody bothered with studying when Ms. Dieva could teach them fun stuff instead. That was why he felt somehow lonely staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night, bothered by all the thoughts related to the prior day. He was the only one left awake. Well, at least he thought so.

"Psst, Snork!" He suddenly heard a whisper. "Are you asleep?"

"No," he replied, but didn't turn his head. Instead he noticed movement in the corner of his eye to his left - in Snorkmaiden's bed.

"...Do you want to be adopted?" Snorkmaiden asked. This time Snork took his time, looking at the ceiling, surprised by the question. Then he turned to his side to look at the other bed.

"Why do you ask?"

"...I dunno." She looked away, but it wasn't really visible in the dark. "I was just wondering… aunt Hemulen mentioned Ms. Dieva could adopt one of us."

"Did she?" Snork asked before even thinking of it, realizing only after a longer moment that the Hemulen, did, indeed, mention it the first time she announced Ms. Dieva would visit them.

It just felt like it had happened in another life.

"Yeah, a while ago."

Snork got somehow more anxious. It was as if he'd realized something. It's not like he didn't like Ms. Dieva, but… he felt she would cause something bad to happen eventually. Intentionally or not. And he usually trusted his guts.

What if it had something to do with the adoption?

"...Would you?" He asked suddenly, trying to push the anxieties away.

"Would I what?"

"Want to be adopted."

There was a solid few seconds of silence.

"I… I guess?" Snorkmaiden finally replied. "I like Ms. Dieva and I think she's much better than aunt Hemulen…"

"Oh." Something hit Snork. He didn't know what or why; it was a reasonable reply.

Snorkmaiden seemed like she wanted to add something, but she closed her mouth each time she opened it so she decided to leave it.

"Goodnight, Snork," she turned to the other side, covering herself with her blanket.

But Snork still couldn't fall asleep. He was worried. About a lot of things. Sooner or later he and Snorkmaiden would be separated and they would probably never see each other again. Her presence was often bothersome and he preferred to be alone most of the time, but…

Dang, Ms. Dieva was right. Snorkmaiden was like a sister to him.

There were only two options; he would leave her in the Orphanage once he finally grew up enough for the Hemulen to consider him an adult that could leave for good, which was the only option so far. The other one was that Snorkmaiden would leave him, getting adopted. He didn't like either of these options.

He knew they would be separated eventually, but he'd never really thought of it. And these thoughts bothered him until he eventually passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I mentioned, a breather before shit goes down fhfgfs,,,
> 
> Thanks for reading so far!!


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